Ending Reactions
by ElfLord123
Summary: We have all seen the players' reactions to the ending. Now, we see what the Mass Effect characters think of it.


Shepard looked at the shimmering figure of the child in front of him, still stunned by everything that has happened.

"I need to stop the reapers," he said, still clinging onto the wound in his stomach. "Do you know how I can do that?" The child looked at him, almost in curiosity.

"Perhaps," he said emotionlessly. "I control the reapers. They are my solution." Without another word, the child turned around and began to walk away.

"Solution?" Shepard repeated, limping after the child. "To what?" The child gave Shepard a brief glance but kept walking.

"Chaos," he said blankly. Above them, Shepard could see the battle between the fleet and the reapers raging outside. "The created will always rebel against their creators," the child explained as Shepard watched the explosions. "But we found a way to stop that from happening…a way to restore order for the next cycle."

"By wiping out organic life?" Shepard asked as they stopped before a massive column of light. The boy stopped and turned around.

"No," he said darkly. "We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone." Shepard closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to understand everything. When he opened his eyes again, the boy was walking away. "Just as we left your people alive last time we were here," the boy continued.

"But you killed the rest," Shepard pointed out.

"We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in reaper form," the boy said, stopping and looking up as if to admire the massive reaper dreadnought passing above them.

"I think we rather keep our own form," Shepard said as he watched the reaper float by.

"No," the boy said firmly. "You can't. Without us to stop it, synthetics will destroy all organics. We created the cycle so that never happen. That's the solution."

Shepard stared at the boy, almost stunned by what he was told.

"Your solution sucks," he burst out.

"Excuse me?" the boy asked.

"This whole ending sucks," Shepard added. He looked around, as if he was searching for someone. "Somebody turn off the background music!" he called out, and the tranquil piano melody in the background vanished. "Kalisah," Shepard said. "Turn the camera off."

Kalisah al-Jilani opened her mouth to protest.

"Do I need to punch you again?" Shepard asked. Jilani grumbled in annoyance before turning off the camera floating beside her head. All around her, people began to walk out from their hiding spots in the scenery, looking at Shepard for an explanation.

"Alright, everyone who thinks this ending sucks, raise your hand" Shepard asked, throwing his hand up in the air. "Come on," Shepard goaded as people exchanged glances, slowly putting their hands in the air. Even Jilani put her hand up.

"I mean like…this whole 'save organics from synthetics' thing doesn't make sense," Shepard said. "The geth only attacked the quarians 'cause they were attacked, and the only ones that continued attacking organics were the ones working for the reapers!"

"I did not make the script," the Catalyst said defensively.

"Well, we should complain to the guy who did," Shepard said.

"Yes," Javik said bluntly. "That seems to be the reason humans even invented language: to satisfy their need to complain."

"Another contradiction," EDI pointed out, moving out of the crowd. "The explanation for the reapers originates out of the assumption that synthetics will inevitably fight organics. My ever increasing relation with Joker contradicts that concept."

"Yeah," Joker agreed. "So we just supposed to forget what happened between us?"

"Let me see this script," Shepard said, taking out a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolding it. "A lot of this crap doesn't make any sense," Shepard said as he read the script. Others began taking out their copy of the script and reading it.

"Releasing the energy of the crucible will end the cycle, but it will also destroy the mass relays," Jacob read. "I thought we already established that destroying a mass relay will take out the ENTIRE system."

"It could be a different type of explosion," Miranda said. "Instead of destroying everything, the crucible makes the explosion do other things."

"Other things," Jacob repeated flatly.

"Even if that's true, that doesn't change the fact that they're gone," Tali pointed out. "So, the entire fleet is trapped at earth. So, instead of building a house on the homeworld I just got back, I'm stuck on earth?"

"After the attack, earth's resources will be unable to sustain a population of that size," Javik pointed out bluntly. "The members of the fleet will soon starve…assuming they do not turn on each other for food."

"Javik!" Liara cried out in disgust.

"I think there should be a scene where I just come in with the Normandy and blow everything away!" Joker said eagerly, imagining the scene unfold in his head.

"Who's the main character in this, you or me?" Shepard snapped.

"I'm only stating an opinion," Joker said innocently. "And everyone is entitled to their opinion." Javik blinked at Joker a few times as he thought about what the pilot said.

"This is true," Javik finally said. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It's just that yours is stupid."

"Wait, you like this ending?" Joker asked in surprise.

"I like the red ending," Javik said. "The reapers are dead, and the synthetics are gone…and red is my favorite color"

"Here's a question," Garrus said hoarsely, flipping back a few pages in his copy of the script. "That beam that leads to the Citadel is the only way in, and anyone who goes in might succeed in activating the Crucible."

"Yeah," Shepard said slowly.

"Why would he leave?" Garrus asked. "The script says Shepard wakes up and watches as Harbinger leaves. If the fate of the reapers is decided by if a person reaches the beam, WHY WOULD HE LEAVE IT UNGUARDED?"

"It wasn't unguarded," Ashley said. "The reapers had a marauder."

"Marauder Shields wasn't even supposed to be there," Garrus pointed out. "The only reason he was even on set was because he couldn't find another bathroom and accidentally waltzed onto the set while we were filming. We were lucky that he figured out something at the last second that we could put into that scene, or we'd have to film that entire piece all over again."

"Another bathroom?" Ashley repeated.

"Grunt clogged the toilet, again, and decided to use his shotgun as a toilet plunger," Garrus said flatly. "And now, thanks to him, I'm stuck calibrating the toilet so that it'll suck stuff in, not shoot its crap back out at my face!"

"HEY!" Joker suddenly yelled.

"What?" Garrus asked in annoyance. "Crap shoot out of the toilet in your face too?"

"No," Joker scoffed, reading the script. "Why am I running away?" Ashley yanked his copy of the script out of his hand.

"The Normandy flees through a mass relay in a desperate attempt to escape the explosion of energy with Joker trying to save his ship," Ashley read.

"Yeah, why am I the coward?" Joker asked angrily. "I flew into a Collector Base with a GUN! And, I'm the one who runs!"

"How is that worse than having fecal matter shot at your face?" Garrus asked.

"Rather take feces to face," Mordin blabbered from the corner. "Ending is terrible. Red commits genocide against synthetics like geth. Green removes diversity. Blue is best possible ending."

Shepard, without another word, took out his cell phone.

"What're you doing?" Ashley asked.

"First I'm calling Harbinger," Shepard said, flipping the phone open. "Then I'm calling my lawyer," he added as he dialed the number. "Then I'm calling the guy who wrote this script."

"Why? Ashley asked with a shrug. Kalisah al-Jilani eagerly started filming Shepard on his phone.

"This will be great stuff for the director's cut," she muttered.

"Hey Harbinger," Shepard said over his cell. "If I asked you to direct a part of a movie, you think you can do it?" he asked. "Not the whole movie, just one part, say…the ending."

"I will direct it personally," Harbinger replied.


End file.
